We had a good week, learning through play with the flax and building blocks/boxes. On Tuesday and Wednesday the classes discussed family and why it is important to them. We made posters displaying our discussions and pictures of each family. Children seemed to really enjoy the stories I provided which talked about different family dynamics; Just Me and My Little Brother by Mercer Mayer, Two Homes by Claire Masurel, and The Berenstain Bears Baby Makes Five by Stan & Jan Berenstain. On Thursday the class had a field trip to the fire station. The firefighters showed us around the station- we got a to have a tour of the big red fire truck and the rescue truck. They showed us how the oxygen masks work and we learned that they last for 30 minutes. The children enjoyed sitting in the fire truck, and listening to the sirens and horn as we left the building. Thank you to Mrs. Turner to helped us out on this day. Your helpMarch newsletters will be distributed on Friday, March 2nd- please check your mailbox or email inbox.Take care,Miss Frieze

Monday and Tuesday were full of wonderful Valentine's Day fun! We played a heart matching game, found tiny hearts in the new FLAX TABLE and decorated delicious chocolate chip cookies for our parties! The story we read was called Hooray for You By Marianne Richmond which promotes a positive self-esteem. (THIS BOOK IS GREAT FOR ALL CHILDREN). We made special Valentines envelopes to hold our special gifts from our friends. All the candy and sugary treats were sent home with the children- they were full of excitement! I apologize to the families who were unsure about whether or not to send Valentine cards. I did post all notes about the party on the blog, in my regular emails as well as in the newsletter. Some children chose to bring cards, and others did not, I feel that everyone was equally included in the activities and card exchange and hope there were no hard feelings after class. If you have any suggestions about how we can better communicate these messages please comment below or feel free to talk to me in person or via email anytime!Wednesday and Thursday we got back to work!! Learning about the letter N we created Necklaces from Noodles and talked about Noisy Nick and his Nails. We made lots of noise using instruments and stomping our feet. The sounds of letter N confused some children with the letter M so we practiced pressing our lips together to make the letter M sounds then using our tongue to make the letter N sounds.

Next week Monday classes are cancelled due to Louis Riel/Family Day.

Tuesday and Wednesday we will be discussing our families- Who is in your family? What does your family do together? How do you show love to your family? When your grow up what will your family look like? Where does your family live? What is most special about your family? How if your family different from other families? If you have not sent a family picture to Nursery School yet can you please do so this week to help your child in his/her discussion about their family.

The Thursday morning class will be visiting the Fire Hall during their regular class time. Some permission forms are still in mailboxes- they can be signed at drop-off on Thursday if you have not yet done so. Drop off and pick up is the same as usual at the school. We will be leaving the school around 9:45, walking to the Fire Hall for a tour and returning by 11:00 a.m. We will be exploring the exciting vehicles they have at the fire hall and discussing how firefighters help our community and what we can do to prevent fires.

Due to having a busy week planned with family discussions and the Fire Hall trip we will be reviewing past letters learned and continuing with letter O on the week of the 27th.

As always- please contact me by telephone, email, text or in person to discuss any questions, concerns or comments you have!I wish you all a wonderful, safe long weekend filled with love and laughter.See you next week,Miss Frieze

I had to laugh that during the warmest winter I can remember on the week we have OUTSIDE ADVENTURES planned it is -20!! Just our luck! The morning classes still made it outside where we collected leaves, pine cones, dirt, snow, sticks and many other neat finds. Much to our surprise we found a lot of ponytails, pencils and also a silver chain!! We spent time in the pea gravel measuring and weighing stones, then had free play on the swings and climbing structure. It was a great way to spend the mornings- full of learning, fresh air and fun! The afternoon class had to postpone their outside time because some children were missing their ski pants. I hope to implement these activities with them in the following weeks.On classes following the outside adventures we discussed our findings and created a lovely display of them in the classroom. The snow we collected melted in the cups and we discussed why this occurs and what would happen if we left it in the cups outside instead of inside.

The children provided me with ideas for their Valentine Parties which will happen Monday and Tuesday of next week. We will be learning a new song about the solar system in the months to come which will add to our morning program of O Canada, Days of the Week, Months of the Year, and Continents of the World.

The water table has been a HUGE SUCCESS at the program this week. The children have really enjoyed measuring, pouring, estimating and overflowing their containers! We learned about half cups, full/empty and half full containers. We did an experiment by placing water outside in plastic containers Monday and viewing them Wednesday when we were able to see that they froze.

I am waiting on confirmation about our field trips to the Fire Hall. I hope each class will be able to visit at their regular class time. Permission forms will be coming out soon! Please note that Monday, Febr Thanks to a monetary donation from a Nursery School family I was able to order new BOTANY puzzles which will teach parts of a plant, parts of a tree, insects and animals. Keep checking back to the blog to see the exciting activities we have coming up!

I would also like to thank THE VERRAN FAMILY for their donations of cloths, cardboard boxes, art supplies, plastic buckets which work great for our individual art supplies and other recyclable materials which we are able to use for various projects in the classroom. These simple items have added great value to our block and art area.

I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT WE ARE HALF WAY THROUGH OUR NURSERY SCHOOL YEAR!! Where has the time gone? These kids are all truly amazing- I am so blessed to have the opportunity to watch them learn and grow! Also a great big thank you to the parents who have been so supportive of our program! I am honored to hear the kind words you share with others in town about the program. The fact that we have had 3 new registrations in 2012 says alot about what we are doing. The Nursery School classes are now FULL every morning, and only 3 spots left on Monday/Wednesday afternoons!

This week we finally got back to our regular routine after being out of the classroom for a couple weeks on field trip and skating. The stories we read were: Chicka, Chicka, 1, 2, 3 by Bill Martin Jr. and How Groundhog's Garden Grew by Lynne Cherry. We discussed Groundhog Day. Some of the questions asked were: What is Groundhog Day? What is a groundhog? Why does he get scared of his shadow? How does he dig his burrow?

We learned about Lucy Lamp Light and words that begin with the letter L. The children had fun transforming popular songs into songs with only lala la! All classes visited the library where we chose a book to read there- it is always fun to experience different stories in a different setting.

We had some wonderful donations brought to us by a family of the program. The items include food items for our housekeeping area, dice and beans for math activities, colored noodles for beading and creating patterns, a container for water/sand/flax, a world map, write and wipe learning boards, play coins and bills, a space puzzle and many other learning tools. With the addition of a water table this week the children have been measuring, predicting and experimenting with the measuring cups/spoons, funnels and the baster. THANK-YOU CLAIRE'S!

We also had a donation of books and art supplies brought in by another family. The books have enhanced our library and added more variety in size, shape and texture which helps keep the children interested in reading and exploring stories. The art supplies have helped us refresh our current baskets with new exciting supplies. THANK-YOU MCGEAN'S!

Next week Monday and Tuesday are outside play days. Please be sure your children bring appropriate clothing for exploring the outdoors on these days. We will be exploring nature, experimenting with the snow and learning through games in the school yard.

For the Valentine's Day parties you are welcome to send Valentine's Day cards for the children if you wish, however it is not required. If you would like to send Valentine cards for each child- there are 10 children in each class (I am not able to send out a list of names) you may ask your child for the names they know, and others you may leave blank, just writing who the Valentine is from. As long as you send 10 I will be sure each child receives one. We will be decorating baked items on those days for our special treat. If you have any questions or concerns please contact me.